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Wallace backs Romney on Dems’ Bain attack

By KENNETH P. VOGEL

01/08/2012 10:04 AM EST

Fox News host Chris Wallace, whose tense on-air exchanges with Mitt Romney have led to speculation about enmity between the two men, on Sunday challenged the basis for Democratic Party attacks on Romney as a cold-hearted businessman who presided over mass layoffs.

The Democratic National Committee has been hammering Romney for layoffs that occurred at companies taken over by his investment firm, Bain Capital, and on “Fox News Sunday,” Wallace went after the attacks in a heated exchange with DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Drawing a comparison between layoffs at Bain properties and layoffs at the controversial solar firm Solyndra, which went bankrupt after receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the Obama administration, Wallace asked Wasserman Schultz, “Is the president responsible for laying off the people at Solyndra?”

Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, started to reject the comparison, saying “the president wasn’t the CEO of Solyndra,” before Wallace cut her off.

“Well, Mitt Romney wasn’t the CEO of these companies either," Wallace said. "The president was a venture capitalist. He put taxpayer money into Solyndra. And 1,000 people lost their jobs. So, is the president responsible for the 1,000 people who lost their jobs at Solyndra?”

The exchange got testier, with the host and Wasserman Schultz each interrupting the other several times, as Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus looked on silently.

“Not even close," Wasserman Schultz said. "But Mitt Romney is responsible for being CEO of companies that he took over that he dismantled.”

But Wallace said, “He wasn’t the CEO.”

And they went on.

Wasserman Schultz: “No, no, no. He was the CEO of Bain. Bain bought these companies, took them over –”

Wallace: “Well, the president is the CEO of the country.”

Wasserman Schultz: “But he’s not the CEO of Solyndra. That’s a totally –“

Wallace: “Mitt Romney wasn’t the CEO of [American Pad & Paper] or of these other companies.”

Wasserman Schultz: “But Bain Capital owned those companies; he made those decisions.”

Wallace: “So you’re saying the president has no responsibility for what happened at Solyndra?”

Wasserman Schultz: “What I’m saying is Mitt Romney as the CEO of –”

Wallace: “I’m asking about the president.”

Wasserman Schultz: “No, the president.”

Wallace: “...has no responsibility for Solyndra?”

Wasserman Schultz: “The president has responsibility for the green jobs program, where he made investments.”

Wallace: “And how about the company, Solyndra, that went bankrupt?”

Wasserman Schultz: “But the decisions that were made at Solyndra that ultimately led to their bankruptcy were those of the people who worked for Solyndra.”